WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Portal) – The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled new restrictions on technology exports to Russia’s military group Wagner, in a bid to further choke off supplies to the contractor over its role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Wagner Group, trade blacklisted in 2017 following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, is now classified as a military end-user and faces harsh new restrictions on access to technology used anywhere in the world US gear is manufactured.
“The Wagner Group is one of the most notorious mercenary organizations in the world and is actively committing atrocities and human rights abuses across Ukraine,” said Undersecretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez. “Today we are sending a clear message to non-state actors trying to pick up the baton of brutality from Putin’s flagging military that the Commerce Department will not hesitate to act against them.”
The move, first reported by Portal, is a sign of support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited the White House on Wednesday and received renewed assurances of US support amid Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine. Continue reading
The United States has supported Kyiv with billions of dollars worth of arms shipments and tough sanctions against Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February, in what it describes as a special operation.
The Wagner Group, a private military company with close ties to the Kremlin, was formed in 2014 after Russia occupied and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and unleashed a separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
His forces have been known to fight in parts of Ukraine, including during a brutal, long-running battle over the small town of Bakhmut.
The US State Department in November also labeled Wagner as working in the defense sector of Russia’s economy and accused the group of wanting to buy Iranian drones that would likely support its operations in Ukraine.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson; Edited by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis
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